a garden in the corner of a gym
2020-01-16

***

the presiding queen rules over her patch of concrete
resentful of the hole in her chest, woefully incomplete
and her knees and shoulders have betrayed her too many times
so she sits on her patch and looks down on us from up high

a coercive building made of ancestors' malice
she watches the children as she sips from chalice
contorting their bodies in impossible ways
but no empathy resides in her stony gaze

all bow down at the command of a robotic voice
programming the class to believe they have no choice
to bend, extend, repeat, give false confession
rear ends in the air, youthful limbs ready for inspection

rain's cold air banished, air stuffy and hot
a door to freedom bolted shut and locked
maybe, if we lift these weights on the count of ten
we will lift ourselves straight up to heaven

***

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (c) Vane Vander